Working to make contracts serve you
Ultimately it serves everyone to have an appliance work properly, Ellen Roseman recommends.
Contracts still govern most consumer transactions. And the terms are often unclear to customers, who feel they have no other choice but to agree to them.
“Read your contracts. Up and down, left and right,” says Lauren Jauregui, a young American singer and songwriter, whose quote I found online.
Here are a couple of contract issues that readers have brought to my attention. Appliance repair: Rosanne Presutti bought a GE dual fuel oven from a retailer in Stoney Creek. She found it was damaged — the oven doors did not align — after it was delivered last November.
Mabe Canada, which services GE appliances, sent an independent technician to her home. He said the side panel of the oven was damaged and had to be replaced under warranty.
“The appliance repair company requires me to sign a waiver of liability for damages they may cause before they would complete the work,” Presutti said. “I was stunned. I have never been asked to sign a waiver before. This is clearly not my fault. I should not be assuming liability.”
When I did an online search, I found the damage waiver was a standard clause in repair agreements. Companies try to protect themselves from liability for damage to kitchen cabinets and hardwood floors, for example, when disconnecting and moving large
appliances to get access.
My advice to Presutti: Sign the waiver and get the repair done. Chances are low it will cause additional damage and if it does, you can still fight for compensation. Don’t let this standard clause deter you from getting your expensive oven to work properly.
“I most likely will sign the waiver, begrudgingly,” she said. Energy service plans: Andrew Tierney was getting calls from Enbridge, his gas provider, saying he needed to make immediate payments to his account. He did so, but the calls kept coming.
“I couldn’t figure out why the bills kept going up out of heating season (I use gas for my furnaces, nothing else).
“When I looked more closely, I found charges for an Enercare service plan for two furnaces and two air conditioners,” he told me.
Tierney is a tenant and doesn’t own the heating and cooling equipment in his home in Manotick, Ont., just south of Ottawa. He insists he would not have agreed to pay for his landlord’s service plans, which were costing him $106.74 a month, going back to August 2017.
Enercare, which uses Enbridge for billing, told Tierney in July 2018 that the service plan contracts would be cancelled and the billing stopped. But nothing happened, even after he wrote directly to CEO Jenine Krause last March.
“I have been polite during each call, I have been respectful in every call, I have been told you record all calls in your call centres, so I would appreciate someone checking if I was ever disrespectful or rude while speaking with almost a dozen different Enercare agents,” he told Krause.
“I want my money back, plus interest, plus grief for all of this. Please send me what I am owed or explain to me why I am wrong and I will go away.”
When I contacted Andrew Temes, a spokesperson for Enercare, he followed up on the complaint for weeks to make sure it was resolved to Tierney’s satisfaction.
Enercare customer experience manager Felipe Varela apologized for the delay and communications failure, arising from his call to request air conditioner service.
“Our records show that during that call, you upgraded the existing protection plans on the account. Usually, that would involve your cancelling the old plans and enrolling in new plans. But from a further review, I see this was not made clear to you,” Varela said.
“Also, we have not adequately addressed your concerns through various interactions with you, falling short of the level of customer service we strive to provide.
“As a result, we will be reimbursing you for the protection plan charges billed to you. Although we did service the equipment under those protection plans, I am also waiving the charges for such service. A reimbursement of $1,794.74 plus HST will appear as a credit on your Enbridge bill in one to two billing cycles.”
Many people find it difficult getting through to large companies to adjust their bills. Some give up, as Tierney was ready to do.
“I know this situation would not be resolved correctly had you not gotten involved,” he said.
MY FINAL COLUMN: After 20 years of championing the consumer cause in the Toronto Star’s Business and Life sections, my columns in the newspaper have come to an end.
I’ve had a great run, aided enormously by your support and sharing of your own experiences on the front lines of commerce.
If you have questions, comments or story ideas to submit, you can send them to me through my website, ellenroseman.com.